upcoming USA Rugby Events of 2017

USA Rugby Events 2017

           

Oct-2016	America Pacific Challenge (Fiji, Samoa, Argentina, Uruguay, Canada and USA -B teams) Uruguay hosted
All year 2017	World Seven series
February-2017	Americas Rugby Championship- round robin
October, 2017	Rugby League World Cup 2017 -New Zealand
Feb, 2018	Americas Rugby Championship
2018	Rugby World Cup Sevens 2018 - USA host
February, 2019	Americas Rugby Championship-
Aug, 2019	Pan Am Games - Peru Seven
Sept-Nov, 2019	Rugby World Cup 2019- Japan

Well as you know there are 3 Rugby games; Rugby Sevens, Rugby League (13 per side) and the Rugby Union (15 per side). Rugby is big in college and the best teams are on the west coast.There was such a difference in quality that the better college rugby teams formed their own playoff. University of California has won an astonishing 26 Championships, not bestowed on them by the NCAA. They are the New Zealand of College Rugby. After college the sport is in its infancy. A new Pro Rugby league started this year in America, Rugby Seven was introduced in the last Olympics 2016 and the Rugby League has a small following on the East Coast. The USA national teams of Rugby are similar to the national soccer team. They both field competitive teams but are outmatched against the best nations in the sport. Similarly the USA Rugby is improving rapidly up the World ranking. We will see a World Cup in Rugby before we see it in soccer.  

USA Sevens (World Ranking #6)

            Well let’s start with the most popular one in the USA. This has to be the Rugby Sevens. The RIO Olympics 2016 just featured one of the big 2 tournaments in the Sevens (the other being the Rugby Sevens World Cup). The USA played very well but did not make the top knockout round. It was unfortunate. The lost the Argentina and eventual Champions Fiji, while beating the host Brazil twice and Spain which was good for 9th place out of 16. I believe the USA is about the 6^th best team in world according to their ranking.  The USA will again be one of the core teams in the Rugby Seven Series 2016-2017 and again will host one of the 10 legs in Vegas.  

        The big news for the USA national team and the sport is that the USA will host the next World Cup, the 2018 Rugby World Cup Seven in San Jose and San Francisco. The Sevens has become a big hit in the states since the national team can compete with the elite of the World very quickly.

USA Rugby Union - USA rank 16^th

            The last Rugby World Cup 2015 was held in London. This tournament proved that the USA is lagging well behind the best in the World in this sport. The USA went 0-4 in group play. They lost to South Africa, Scotland, Japan and Samoa. The next World Cup in 2019 in Japan and the USA Eagles have a lot of work to do to get ready for this one.

         The biggest news on this front is the USA just started a pro League called Pro Rugby that launched in April and concluded July in 2016. It is now being eyed by European leagues (Pro 12) as an expansion area for their league. The Pro Rugby owner doesn’t want to invade his potential profit and there is a war of words on what will be best for USA Rugby. Any attention is good. The USA however is way behind the top nations of New Zealand, Australia and S Africa as well as the top European teams. The Eagles are Ranked 16 and Canada 17 and Uruguay 18th. 

       The good news is the USA will now enter into a yearly tournament called the Americas Rugby Championship against Argentina B team called Argentina XV, Canada, Uruguay, Brazil and Chile. This tournament will put the Eagles in a very competitive tournament every year against their level of competition. The next tournament starts  in February.  .

USA Rugby (World Rank 13^th   League)

            There is a Rugby League that operates on the east coast on the USA with 14 teams. It has 3 divisions. The Philadelphia Flight has won 4 of the 6 championships and are your current Champion.

         The last Rugby League World Cup was 2013 which was the USA Tomahawks or Hawks enter their  first League World Cup. The were beat in the knockout round 62-0 against Australia. The did however beat Cook Islands and Wales,,,losing to Scotland in competitive games. The next World Cup is in 2017 in Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea. The World Cup expanded from 5 teams in 1992 to 10 in 1995. There will be 14 nations competing in 2017. Lets hope the Hawks can close the gap here also. They only have til next year to get this together.

      A new tournament was just announced this year called the Rugby League Americas Cup 2017. The only nations to participate in 2016 will be the USA, Canada and Jamaica.The games will be played in Philadelphia and Toronto to determine the Americas Champion. These 3 nations  competed to qualify for the 2017 World Cup with the USA winning in 2015. The USA will represent the Americas in next years Rugby League World Cup.